NASA Mercury Space Exhibit Opens in Grand Turk

Posted February 01, 2011

The Grand Turk Cruise Center now features an exhibit about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Mercury space program and the historic 1962 splashdown of the Friendship 7 capsule off the coast of Grand Turk.

Grand opening festivities were held last weekend, with representatives from the Turks and Caicos Islands’ government, Carnival Corp. & plc and the Grand Turk Cruise Center in attendance. Guest speakers included Janet E. Petro, deputy director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center, and former NASA astronaut Winston Scott.

“Splashdown Grand Turk” is a 3,500-square-foot attraction on the south side of the Grand Turk Cruise Center. The free exhibit features replicas unique to the Mercury space program, including a scaled 20-foot-tall Atlas rocket and a full-size, three-dimensional replica of astronaut John Glenn in his spacesuit, and, of course, a detailed replica of the Friendship 7 capsule, which splashed into the Atlantic in 1962, a few miles from the island of Grand Turk.

Storyboards depict the accomplishments of the NASA space program and detail the differences in space equipment of yesterday and today while offering an overview of the current space program and future plans.

Opened by Carnival Corp. & plc in 2006, the Grand Turk Cruise Center encompasses a state-of-the-art pier and a 14-acre complex offering a variety of shops and restaurants. The 2011 cruise season will bring 285 ship calls to the Grand Turk Cruise Center carrying approximately 625,000 visitors.

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